Many types of window coverings or treatments such as venetian blinds, cellular or pleated shades, and variants of these (here represented without restriction merely by “shades”), utilize multiple internal lift cords (see, e.g., FIG. 1). These lift cords 1 are typically anchored to a movable lower or “bottom” rail 2 and run upward through a shade or blind into a relatively-fixed top or “head” rail 3, and then through a locking mechanism 4 and out. More than one such cord is required to provide uniform and level support to the shade, and wide shades may have many such cords. Convenient operation of the shade demands that a single device 5 be grasped by the operator, not a multitude of cords, so the exited cords are conventionally joined to a single extension cord 6, at a common coupling 7. This coupling is often called an equalizer, because the multiple cords are knotted to the coupling during manufacture, giving the manufacturer an opportunity to adjust the effective length of each cord (by knot placement or otherwise), thereby making all the cords share the load. Notably, the task of reliably ensuring that all the cords are in fact equally loaded (and the shade thereby level-hanging once installed) has proven to be difficult in practice and is a significant cause of manufacturing cost, customer complaint and returns for repair.
In recent years, cases of accidental death and injury have been documented in which a person, typically a baby or small child, perhaps in playing with such multiple cords, becomes entangled and chokes or asphyxiates when the cords constrict their airways. Several novel designs for the cord coupling have been presented with the object of providing a passive means to prevent such disasters, without loss of function or aesthetic appeal in the shade or its actuator cords and without added costs. Such couplings may achieve this end by providing multiple elements, each joined to one of the multiple cords, held together by a spring force or mechanical engagements (like pin-and-hole pairs) that transmit the cord tension of normal operation, but readily separate when anything becomes caught among the cords, thereby releasing the loop that might cause injury. However, it is relatively difficult for the fabricators of shades using such couplings to efficiently achieve equalization of the multiple cords during manufacture, because of the difficulty of individually terminating each of the several cords in the several parts of the coupling at precisely the same cord lengths.
Consequently, there exists a need for a safety-separating cord collator/equalizer that exhibits a simple, post-assembly or post-installation way to equalize the cords of a multi-cord shade so that cord terminations can be made just once, without regard for their precise lengths at termination. By this design, the labor cost for each shade is reduced and the satisfaction of the user is increased.